Many species of insect are attracted at night to various kinds of artificial light and this can cause a great deal of inconvenience and discomfort to people in the vicinity, particularly in homes, on patios, at barbecues, whilst camping or fishing, or when working or walking outside with the aid of a lantern. In areas infected by malaria, artificial light sources tend to attract unwanted mosquitoes, thereby furthering the spread of the disease.
Methods most commonly used for preventing and/or dealing with unwanted concentrations of insects include the following:    a. fine gauze netting on doors and window screens;    b. mosquito nets over beds;    c. contact insecticides sprayed onto surfaces on which insects tend to settle;    d. space insecticides sprayed into the air in rooms;    e. vaporising strip insecticides which steadily pass off insecticidal vapours into the surrounding air;    f. sticky strips of material from which insects are unable to free themselves after having sed thereon; and    g. insect-exterminating lamps many of which emit ultraviolet light to attract insects, surrounded by electrified screens for intercepting, electrocuting and/or burning to death insects on their way to the light source.
All of the aforementioned methods of dealing with insects have inherent disadvantages as indicated below:                the fine gauze netting on doors and window screens, as well as in mosquito nets, affects ventilation and cooling;        insects tend to concentrate on the outside of doors and window screens fitted with fine gauze netting and if such doors or window screens have to be opened for any reason (such as for going out, coming in, opening a window, or dosing a window) insects are inclined to fly into the room, sometimes in large numbers, attracted by be light source(s) within;        the spraying of insecticide within a room, whether this be onto surfaces or into the air, is bound to have cumulative detrimental effects on the health of the occupants, the degree to which this occurs depending largely on factors such as the type of insecticide used, the frequency of spraying, quantities sprayed, size of room, effectiveness of ventilation, number of occupants, sensitivity of occupants etc.;        similarly, the continuous vaporisation of insecticide into a room, even at a comparatively slow rate, is bound to result in progressively worsening health, particularly of those occupant suffering from asthmatic or other pulmonary ailments;        most insect-exterminating lamps presently on the market are not aesthetically pleasing;        those using ultraviolet light to attract insects provide relatively poor and unpleasant illumination; and        the process of electrocuting and/or roasting live insects, with the accompanying crackling noises, puffs of smoke and unpleasant smells is disturbing to most people and certainly not welcome in most homes.        
An object of the invention is to provide an insect exterminator the use of which obviates at least some of the problems discussed above.